In a bold move by Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, the journal has unveiled the latest superhero in the fight to save the common scientist from the ruthlessness of today’s laboratories.

With great power comes great selectivity

Standing firm with test tube in hand, Raney Cobalt-man is a new character from Catalyst Comics. The star wears a rather tight, bright cobalt blue coloured outfit, reflecting one of the element’s most notorious uses. How Raney Cobalt-man gained his powers, we will never know. But perhaps it was in a careless lab accident, and if so, he has certainly learnt his lesson. Now with goggles and elbow-length gloves (not to mention a full body suit and special groin area protection), Raney Cobalt-man is a true ambassador for PPE.

This first adventure takes our hero into the domain of the domino reaction where he’s be helped by his trusty sidekick, Dihydrogen Boy. The young assistant plays an essential role in their joint mission to catalyse peace and his support is needed even more as the hero ages. Here in the domino reaction, they join forces to selectively bring harmony cascading through the scientific community.

But where are the other great chemical heroes of today? Well, I suppose there is the elementally named Iron Man – a brilliant scientist, although he was actually more of an engineer. The Flash was first a forensic scientist who came by his powers after a lightning bolt hit his lab. This mishap is, of course, one of the many dangers of working alone late at night. The lovable Chemist Hulk may also be familiar to those folks on Twitter, this mean green scientist likes nothing better than to tweet about ‘SMASHING PUNY MOLECULES’.

Raney Cobalt-man is the hero that chemists deserve, but is it the one they need right now?

In this edition of the Raney Cobalt-man comics, the eponymous hero is helped by Martin Banwell and colleagues from the Australian National University. Together they review an underappreciated reagent and compare its powers to that of its nemesis, Raney Nickel-man. The story tells that high pressure from Dihydrogen Boy can often be off-putting for those wanting to call upon Raney Cobalt-man’s selective powers. But these drawbacks are simply overcome by using a larger amount of Raney Cobalt-man and therefore less of his annoying sidekick.

Comic book and science fans alike may be waiting a while before Raney Cobalt-man’s next adventure hits our book shelves, but be sure to pick up the first edition over at OBC.

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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Raney Cobalt-man!, 10.0 out of 10 based on 5 ratings